Via Mr. Scout, here’s the set of belts I’m going to buy for Peer Pressure, and I’m also going to need this kit for the floor mounts. He used these lights for his license plate, which looks to be a good solution; I need to find a bracket of some kind that I can mount to the swingarm on the right side and then fish the wires through.
Update: Bass Pro Shop has a zinc coated bracket for the low low price of $4.99. There’s also this one, which doesn’t require separate bolts, or this one.
It’s about time for an update! And yes, I’m starting this off with another bridge picture:
When last we left off, the welder couldn’t meet up with us, so we got a bunch of welds cleaned up, drilled holes for seatbelt mounts, and other smaller tasks accomplished. This Sunday I made it over the river by 10:15 and we were backing up to his shop by 11.
The first task was to mount up the swingarm. We clamped some plate to the top of the bumper, moved things back and forth and up and down, and finally found the right spot. He fired up the welder and got to work.
Once that was in place, we greased and assembled the swingarm cups and bearings, pressed them in with a socket, and set it onto the spindle. Not bad!
There’s a droop of maybe 1/2″ on the far side of the hinge, and even after torquing the castle nut down just a hair of vertical play in the arm.
I wasn’t concerned about the droop all that much, because the next part was welding a receiver to the other side. After lots of consultation, we decided to cut a flat plate and weld that to the face of the bumper, and then weld a section of angle iron to that to act as the shelf it sits on:
While that was cooling down, I had him weld my seatbelt bungs into the rollbar, the spare tire plate onto the standoff, the bolts for the Hi-Lift to the bumper, and the bolts for the spare.
Then, we pulled the whole bumper off to weld two plates of angle iron in behind the outer bumper mounting holes–one side to the frame and the other to the flat plate across the back of the frame. This should provide support for the weight of the tire and bumper.
Once that was all done, we threw everything into the back of the truck, paid the man, and headed back to Brian’s place. There we drilled out the mounting holes for the bumper, put that back in, mounted the swingarm, and tested the height of the receiver on the tailgate: too high! We had to chop about 1″ off the top of the receiver to clear the tailgate as it came down all the way, but there’s still plenty of backstop left to keep the arm from hitting the back of the truck. The last thing we did was drill a hole for a receiver pin; by then it was 6PM and time for a swim in the river.
When I get home this evening I’ll shoot some pictures of the swingarm open and add them here for reference.
So, next steps are:
More details to follow. Goodnight!
Not much to write about around here, but I finally decided I’d mount up my jack to see how it fits. I added the missing four bolts to the frame mount and cut some pieces of silicone matting for the jack cradle. Then it was as simple as spinning wingnuts onto the post bolts. I need to strap the handle down with some velcro and find a way to lock the jack down, but it looks good!
Today I headed back to Chestertown for more bumper work with Brian. One new wrinkle in the fuel system saga is that filling the tank with more than 8 gallons of gas produces a mystery leak somewhere from the top (!?!?) out of sight. So when the tank gets dropped, I’ll have to sort that out as well.
The assemblies are back from the welder, and they look great. Only a few minor spots of burn-through here and there, stuff that can be fixed with a small amount of bondo and some sandpaper.
We pulled the stock bumper off, put the new one on, and did some test-fitting for the jack mounts. With some silicon padding down on the cradles, we marked off holes for mounting bolts and drilled them through. Then we revisited the spare tire mount, drilling holes for mounting bolts on the plate, then mocking up the arm and re-measuring vertical distance. Both sets of bolts I’d bought from Fastenal were too long, so we had to hit the local True Value to find stock in the proper length.
Once that was sorted out, we noticed the standoff was 2″ too long, so that got chopped down to size. Then the plate was marked and tacked onto the standoff, and we tacked mounting bolts in place on everything.
After lunch, we were still waiting for the welder to get back to us, so we busted out the grinders and cleaned up the welds a bit. Once I smooth it out with a flap wheel it’ll be ready for bondo, and then some etching primer.
The welder was AWOL until the late afternoon, which screwed up our timetable, so we dicked around with some other stuff before calling it a day. First up was drilling holes for seatbelt bungs, which look real pretty and will be even prettier when they’re welded and painted.
Then we thought about tracing the power lead from the fuel sender back to the dashboard, and got as far as pulling the dashboard valance panel off and mucking around with the gauge when I came to my senses and realized I needed to be on the road in an hour. This job can wait.
So, after a quick ride in Chewbacca, I packed up my gear and hit the road for home. As I was approaching the bridge, I hit the first in a series of rainshowers and found the wipers were dead, to my great dismay. They have been working reliably up until now, so maybe our wiggling the BHC made them angry or something. I stopped in to the local K-Mart and found some Rain-X, applied that liberally to the windshield, and continued home. That shit is awesome.
Tomorrow I’m headed back across the bridge for more wrenching fun with Mr. Scout. In preparation, I decided it might be wise to replace the cracked vapor line I repaired with a sock and zip tie last fall, seeing as we’re going to be welding within inches of it.
The backstory: I was putting something like fifteen gallons in the new tank and heard the sound of fuel spattering on the pavement. The original vapor line was two pieces of ancient hose spliced with a length of copper tubing, and the leaks were coming from somewhere around the splice. Pressed for time, I wrapped the leak with a sock to keep dripping gas from hitting the hot exhaust pipe and torching the back of the truck.
Finn helped me by finding the proper 9/16 socket and removing four bolts which held the spare tire assembly to the sidewall. I marked it and stored it in one of the bins, then put the four bolts back into the sidewall. It’ll be nice to drive without that thing clanking around.
I got another package in the mail today: a pair of 2″ seatbelt bungs for Peer Pressure.
They’re actually longer than 2″–they’re meant to go through the rollbar, out the other side, and get welded on both ends. I’m going to ask Mr. Scout to bring his set of steel bits to get it started, and if I need to buy a large-diameter bit, I will. This is a link to the set he bought for Chewbacca, and I like the way they fit his rig. I also like the way the female side is mounted to a flexible pole so that the clip is always right next to the seat (instead of laying on the floor, like my current belts do).
I’m looking forward to the weekend—this time I’m going to be on the road as early as I can so that we can get as much of a full day in as possible.
Next week, it’s back to Chestertown for a fabrication party.
Also, I think I solved the issue of the chattering transfer case: Some genius (not me) spun the front hubs to 4×4. On a hunch the other day, I hopped out, spun them back to 4×2, and did another lap around the block: the chattering was gone.
Last week was a good one for Peer Pressure. She spent Monday to Thursday on the road with the top down and I had a smile on my face all week.
This Saturday she hauled 60 cubic feet of mulch from the Middle School to our lawn with no complaints. Finn spent half the afternoon playing in the driver’s seat while I raked and mulched next to the driveway. Finn has declared the rear bed is her dance party room.
I got a call late Sunday from a guy I’ve bought parts from before; he needs a pair of Terra windows for his son’s project and it just so happens I’ve got a pair sitting in the garage. His son is going to convert a full travel top Scout to a Terra, will most likely be getting rid of his top, and would I be interested in it if he does?
Sure, I would.